Wounded
by TheDawnCrusader
Summary: Wally dosne't know what to do when he finds Artemis with a knife in her stomach. Rated T for blood.


**Wounded **(it's supposed to be narrated by Wally. The random sentences are his thoughts)…

"I have to get Artemis?" Wally had groaned when Kaldur told him to fetch the young archer. Thinking back to it Wally wished he could have just said no and refused instead of running down yet another deserted back alley. Stupid girl. Stupid blond getting herself lost.  
>As Wally approached the central city park he slowed his pace, scanning the wide expanse of land with his bright green eyes. He saw a few pigeons some benches with twittering squirrels fighting over a peanut and just at the edge of the park a lone figure standing out clear in the darkness only light by 5 lamp posts. Is that her? Of course that's her who else has a 2 foot long massive pony tail. Is that really her? Something doesn't seem quite right.<br>"Artemis c'mon" he called out a little uneasy. There was no reply so he called out again "Artemis" he called out clearer and louder. She just continued to stand there her back to him not moving. He frowned. That's unusual. "Artemis?" he yelled. No reply. Now it was just getting creepy. What was up with her? Something seemed wrong. Very wrong. He sprinted over taking no more than two seconds, stopping right in front of the unresponsive girl.  
>His eyes opened as wide as coins as he saw the knife protruding from her uncovered belly, crimson blood pouring from her ragged wound. Her cheeks were wet with tears, more falling from her eyes every second. It took her a couple of seconds but when she saw him she opened and closed her mouth trying to say something but nothing came out. Her usually tanned skin was pale and clammy. Her calm face was covered in distress and a look of fear in her wide blue eyes. Her hands were clamped around the bows thin gripper, knuckles white from squeezing to hard, an arrow still notched. Her whole front was red with blood, steaming down the new gap in her stomach.<br>She looked him straight in the eye a spark of hope in her eyes, and collapsed. Wally panicked. He was unsure of what to do, where to go, or how for that matter. Artemis, Artemis, Artemis oh my god Artemis what do I do? He kneeled beside her taking off his shirt and wrapping it around her wound for pressure, to stop the bleeding. That is what you do right? Then he did the only thing that he could have done. He picked her just as he had in Byhalia, his arms protesting at the weight on the already tired muscles. He panted; a night of fighting, running around and now this? He couldn't hold up much longer.  
>. Was all that Wally thought, running down street after street. Wally was no doctor but even he could tell Artemis needed medical attention right away. There was no time to find the team; she had to get to the hospital and fast.<br>Wally set his course for the only place he knew that could save Artemis. He ran to the hospital, ginger hair flying behind him as his feet carried them closer to the one place that could save her life. Within a matter of minute's he was at the front of the clean white hospital doors, where onlookers gawked at him. One man stood there a cigarette dangling off his pudgy lips until it fell. Paying them no heed he ran through open hospital doors.  
>The hospital waiting room was dark and crowded. The talking stopped almost immediately at his presence. People stared at him as he entered running straight towards the front desk. The people whispered to each other and a baby wailed in the background. He was aware of the people, hoping that that they wouldn't start asking for autographs. He had to save Artemis.<br>"Please help her" he yelled a wild look of desperation on his freckled face as he shouted to the surprised looking nurse at the desk. "Please" he begged. The flustered nurse at the desk stared at him slack jawed for a couple seconds, eyes wide. She looked at him as if he was Oprah or some celebrity like that.  
>"O-of-of course" she stammered, pushing her black hair out of her face. "Follow me quickly" she said getting out from behind the hospital desk. He could only guess her surprise, half naked Kid Flash running into the hospital carrying a half-dead Artemis demanding help. That thought was almost funny except for the fact that Artemis was <em>half-dead.<em> She ran with Wally closely behind her down a narrow hallway packed with doctors and nurse's scurrying from here to there. They stared at them as they ran by. They ran into one of the empty emergency rooms. He put her on the white lined hospital bed as doctors and nurses ran in to the room ready to save the young superhero's life. The nurse led him out of the room calmly, biting her lip nervously.  
>"Thank you" he whispered. His eyes half closed, his muscle's still tense as she led him down a new hallway. The hallway was full of office's each door with their own name. She led him into a spacious office near the end. That was full of furniture that looked like it was from the sixties, complete with a bright yellow-and-brown-poka-dotted-couch. He nearly collapsed on the big black office chair, the only thing in the room that belonged to the twenty-first century. She left the room for a few moments and quickly returned, carrying a small bundle. It was with his now blood stained shirt. "Thank you," he repeated fatigue etched into his voice. An uneasy smiled spread across her brown face.<br>"You're welcome. Would you like me to get you a new shirt?" she said asked. All Wally did was nod too tired to do much more. She did a little bow quietly shutting the door behind him, as if he were the emperor of England. Wait a minute that's not right. He gave a big yawn trying to clear his thoughts. He hadn't realized how tired he was until he had stopped moving. Artemis, Artemis, Artemis, Artemis…. He sprang up remembering that the team was probably waiting for him to return with Artemis. His mental contact with M'gann had been broken, so hesitantly he dialed the number to Robin's cell phone number, his fingers sluggishly hitting each number. He yawned as the phone rang once then twice before the familiar voice spook.  
>"Hello?" came the voice of Robin a little quietly.<br>"Hey Rob it's me Kid Flash, I've got bad news"  
>"What did you get caught in traffic?" he said sarcastically. "You've been gone for 40 minutes. How hard is it to get Artemis."<br>"Artemis was stabbed, she's in the emergency room," Wally said almost yelling, his voice edged with steal, annoyed. He didn't need a sarcastic boy wonder. There was silence for a second and then a new voice came on. Kaldur then said,  
>"M'gann and I are on are way over. We will be there in twenty minutes. What room are you in?"<br>"Just ask the nurse at the front desk she'll bring you to me."  
>"Bye" Kaldur said, the line going dead. Artemis, Artemis, oh God Artemis please be okay were his last thoughts before curling up on the leather backed chair and nodding off to sleep.<p>

He hadn't really remembered closing his eyes, but he when he woke up pale streams of sunlight streaming in through the small window in the corner. He quickly sat up knocking the scratchy brown blanket- that he could only assume the nurse had put on him- to the ground. A folded red long-sleeve-shirt with the Flash's yellow-and-white insignia on the front was on the desk, a small folded note on top.  
>He quickly pulled the new shirt over his bare torso, thankful for its warmth. Something felt off but he couldn't figure out what. He reached u to scratch his forehead, but only found the rubbery material of his mask. That's what was wrong. It had felt odd to have his mask and goggles on when he was in "normal" clothing. Right? The answer didn't satisfy him though. Something still felt wrong. Not Artemis-was-stabbed wrong but wrong somehow. He couldn't shake his unease. He felt as if something wasn't as it should have been.<br>Picking up the neat note he recognized the gentle handwriting of M'gann. The letter read:  
><em>Dear Wally, Me and Kaldur arrived last night to see Artemis's condition. The doctors say she's going to live. She is going to be transported to the league hospital. Hold tight! Hello M'gann, I should tell you that on the desk we left you a DS. The walkie-talkie on the desk is to call the nurse for anything you need. Have a good time <em> _  
>Sincerely, M'gann<br>P.S don't show anyone this note rip it up, burn it, eat whatever is needed to be done to keep it from prying eyes.  
><em> He tucked the note in his pocket, not knowing which method he should use to destroy it with. He sat there for a few moments imagining scenarios of epic destruction to the small scrap of paper, when his stomach growled. He hadn't eaten since the night before. His food tank was empty, he needed more fuel. He picked up the black walkie-talkie off the desk looking it over for a couple of minutes before putting it to his ear, pressing the button and saying a quiet "hello?"  
>"Yes?" asked the female voice on the other end of the land. It wasn't the nurse from the night before, the voice sounded like an old goat grandma.<br>"I'm hungry. Can I have some breakfast?"  
>"Right away young sir" she broke connection immediately afterward. He couldn't help but grin at the distaste in her voice when she had called him young sir. Artemis…..was she really okay? What would it be like to have a knife in your body? He shook his head, and laid down on the ancient couch. The sofa springs creaking underneath him as he got comfortable. He pulled out the yellow DS switching it on as he waited for his food.<p>

Two days later

Wally sat with the other members of the team- Robin, Kaldur, M'gann, Conner and Zatanna-waiting for when Artemis was allowed guests. When she was moved to the justice league hospital, her status was soon stable. And now they waited for when they could see her bright face once more. They all sat on the green couches in silence, almost as if they were ready to mourn for Artemis's death. M'gann started crying softly beside Wally, tears trickling down her green freckled face.  
>"Don't cry green cheeks" Wally said a little weakly, trying to cheer up the sad Martian, but it felt half hearted. Conner walked over to the sad girl and put his arm around her. She hugged him back burying her head in his chest, trembling with tears. What does she see him that's not in me! Robin sat in a corner hugging his shins close to him, head resting on the tops of his knees. His black hair fell over the dark sunglasses making his face look dark and morbid. Artemis…. And then there was Kaldur sitting on the couch with a blank look on his face. He was probably deep in thought. About what? Zatanna sat making a flower in her hand appear and then disappear with a single word. But she didn't look really into it. He couldn't stand it, not doing anything that is. He got up and without a word and walked down the empty hallway, hoping for something to lighten the dark mood of their wounded comrade.<p>

Wally quietly walked through the hallways, clutching the camera in his pocket. The white washed walls weren't much of a cover in the hospital ward, but he was Kid Flash, even if he was seen he could be back before anyone they could even say WAIT, WHAT! They just had to say it reeeeaaaallllllllllyyyyyyy slowly. He crept along making sure not to let his sneakers squeak on the clean tile floor. He passed yet another picture of the _Heroes of the hospital _campaign. If you gave a donation of 1000 or more you got your picture on the wall. Several of the pictures were of Bruce Wayne, owner of Wayne Inc. He walked through another set of doors. Hardly anyone was around, he had run into a few doctors but simple hiding spots and ducking into different rooms had saved his hide.  
>An old nurse walked by chatting to a younger woman. He recognized the younger black woman from the hospital the other day. So that's where she went.<br>He ducked under a table faster than an eye could perceive. The young nurse from the other day stopped abruptly, turning to the woman beside her, exclaiming,  
>"Did you see that!"<br>The older frowned, her brow furrowing. "See what exactly?" She said suspicion in her voice. She turned her head and looked directly at his hiding space. Her eyes grew wide. She opened her mouth as if to say something about him, but decided against it closing her mouth.  
>"Nothing" she gave a little laugh. "I guess I must be seeing things."<br>"Humph" the old woman said pursing her lips. Then she said in a cheerier voice, "what were we talking about again? It seems I lost track of our conversation, from that brief interruption."  
>"Um I'm not exactly sure." The two ladies walked by chatting anew. As they turned the down the next corridor, Wally let out a sigh of relief, thankful that the nurse hadn't rated him out. He tiptoed down the hallway, doing his best to make no sound, after that last encounter he had to be more cautious. He crept down the hallway peeking in to each room as he went. Old lady; no, a man asleep in bed; no, Hal Jordan with one of his legs in a cast; no. He scowled, finding Artemis would be harder than he thought.<br>Even though it took longer than he thought it would, He finally peeked into one of the rooms just after the corner in one hallway, and there she was, eye's closed blond hair sprawled out on her pillow. On her wrist was attached to one of those things a doctor put on the patients to give them blood. What were they called again? Don't know, don't care.  
>Quietly he opened the door. He hesitated a minute before entering, but he had come too far to turn around now. Closing the door behind him he sat in the chair beside her bed, and looked at her, but this time he really looked at her for who she was, not the annoying pest he had come to know and hate. Her eyes were closed, her thick black eyelashes rested just under her eye. Her long blond hair was out of the usual ponytail and was spread out underneath her. Her heart shaped face that came into a little point, and her rosy cheeks. I could fall for her…. NO I couldn't, she's just a little brat who liked to give him hell for everything he did. But then again she was so pretty. No. M'gann was the pretty one, Artemis was the tough one.<br>He shook his head. He came here to take a picture of her, not to gawk. Pulling out the small digital camera, and snapped a picture of her face, looking so peaceful. He snapped the camera a couple of times until he got just the right picture.  
>He was about to open the door to get out when he saw a group of school children, standing directly in front of the door. They had all sat down, and appeared to be playing a game. He couldn't tell but from the brief moment he had looked out, he had noticed there had been almost more than 80 kids.<br>He bit back a curse, and sat back down on the chair. He waited a while, counting each dot on Swiss-cheese-like-tile on the ceiling. He constantly checked to see if they had left, and the last time he had checked there was an entire new group, of kids. This was going to take a while, only the justice league hospital would do something like this.  
>He sat back down in the chair and waited. There wasn't much to do, and soon boredom was unavoidable. He started pacing around the room, looking out the window (which was 30 feet in the air) and whatever else could keep his mind somewhat occupied.<br>Artemis started to groan, and her eyes opened. She blinked a couple of times trying to get her vision clear. She tried to sit up but was surprised to find that she couldn't. Her eyes were half open, and she looked as she was about to go back to sleep when they fell on to the face of Wally looking directly at her. She blinked once, then twice and then looked around the room. Her eyes widened as she realized where she was.  
>Wally reached down and clicked the button on a hard plastic white remote. Her bed eased upward until she was in an almost sitting position.<br>Looking at him with a confused look on her Oval face she asked "Wally?"  
>He sighed, "hey Arty," doing his best to be nice. She had been stabbed only 3 nights ago.<br>"Where am I? Why am I here?"  
>"You were stabbed a few nights ago. I found you and brought you to a hospital, you were transferred to the JL hospital yesterday," Wally said bluntly. He couldn't bring himself to look her in the eye. She looked surprised at first then her eyes opened wider as if remembering the previous events.<br>"Thank you" she said even quieter. He looked up at her. She was saying thank you to me? There's a first for everything.  
>"For what?"<br>"For saving my life. If you hadn't brought me to that hospital or even if you hadn't had found me I would be dead." She said it with such thankfulness he couldn't bring himself to even say _I just wanted to hear you admit that. _He looked her in the eyes and gently said,_  
><em> "Well I couldn't just let you die, M'gann would have a fit and Kaldur would have my head" he pointed to his head and said "I rather like my head thank you very much." She smiled at him, but quickly brought her face back to its serious look. Before he knew it the words were out of his mouth "why do you do that? You show your nice side and cover it up right away as if it's supposed to be a secret." He hadn't even thought of the words they had just flown from his mouth. She opened her mouth as if to reply but closed it. He gripped the rail on the side of the bed, "Dammit Artemis, what's your problem? All you do is yell at me all the time, but the moment you're not pissed off at me you say nothing." He looked down as said the next part color rising to his cheeks, "you're so pretty when you smile." She looked at him with surprise, and to his surprise she didn't yell at him back but reached down and pulled his hand off the bar he gripped, and held his hand in hers. She looked him in the eyes a little smile on her face.  
>"Thank you" she closed her eyes and started to sleep, a smile still on her face. He couldn't help but smile back. He was a little stunned at the short conversation. Why had he said those things? He looked at the window once more to find no one there. He was about to open the door when he remembered something. Turning back he took a new picture of Artemis. One of her smiling. He couldn't help but turn back once more and look at her before closing the door. He turned on his heel and left for the team base. Ready to show the team Artemis again. <p>


End file.
